We’re back at Watershed for the first of another quartet of Tuesdays on 13 May. This season is your chance to workshop your short scripts for our Turning ‘ages and WWI centenary projects (see below). Get in touch too if you have other work in progress that you’d like to give an airing, or if you have something in the pipeline that won’t quite be ready this time but will be good to go in our summer season in late June to mid-July (dates to be confirmed).

All the following meetings are happening in Waterside 1 at Watershed, 1 Canon’s Road, Harbourside, Bristol, BS1 5TX. Ask at the box office if you need directions to the meeting. Everyone attending pays£1.

Tuesday, 13 May at 7.30pm: Open Workshop
Tuesday, 20 May at 7.30pm: Open Workshop
Tuesday, 27 May at 7.30pm: Open Workshop
Tuesday, 3 June at 7.30pm: Open Workshop

 

Turning ‘ages at Bristol Central Library

We’re hoping to confirm Friday, 27 June soon as the date of an evening of readings at Bristol Central Library featuring your short scripts inspired by Bristol artist Elaine Robison’s Turning ‘ages artwork.

Easton’s Junction 3 library is exhibiting Turning ‘ages until the end of May when it transfers to the Central Library at College Green. After a month in central Bristol, the work embarks on a national tour with showings in libraries in Sheffield, Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester confirmed, and plans for exhibitions in Cardiff and at the British Library in London next year.

To contribute a ten-minute monologue or duologue to our evening of readings, you need ideally to view Turning ‘ages at Junction 3 library, Lower Ashley Road, Bristol, BS5 0FJ, to seek inspiration for your short script.

 

Flat Packed and World War I Remembered at Brass Works Theatre

Following a full house for a one-off show by improvised comedy company Instant Wit (led by Southwest Scriptwriters committee member Stephanie Weston) on 26 April, Brass Works Theatre‘s next production is Flat Packed by Adrian Harris, playing at the new venue in Warmley from 10 to 21 June.

Developed with Southwest Scriptwriters – including a complete reading at our first meeting this yearFlat Packed is a bittersweet comedy set during the banking crisis.

John is a regular mechanic struggling to assemble a cot for his soon-to-arrive baby. His best friend George has something life-changing he needs to share, while ‘karaoke buddy’ Paula has discovered a secret John’s been keeping close to his chest.

Why can’t people be straight with each other? Why can’t they just say what they mean?

Performances are at 8pm Tuesday to Saturday from 10 to 21 June with a matinee at 2.30pm on Saturday, 21 June.

The next show at South Gloucestershire’s new theatre will be the World War I centenary event featuring readings of your monologues around the anniversary of the outbreak of the war in early August.

The event will present work reflecting life throughout the global conflict, and so it’s better not to think only of life in the trenches on the Western Front as source material for your monologues.

 

Open Session at Bristol Old Vic in June

From Monday, 2 until Monday, 30 June, Bristol Old Vic’s Literary Department is accepting scripts from writers living and working in the South West.

Now in its second year, the theatre’s Open Session initiative offers bespoke development opportunities to five selected writers.

To enter, you need to email an original, unproduced stage play to BOV’s Literary Department, taking care to be sure that it arrives between the dates in June shown above.

Find full details on BOV’s website.

 

Get some words on Edgeways

Bristol podcast producer Emily Knight is seeking six- to ten-minute pieces for her new Edgeways programme, and is interested in brief radio drama scripts or short stories. The podcast is an extracurricular activity for Emily, who works as a Production Coordinator with BBC Radio 4.

To download the first two editions of the Edgeways podcast, visit its website, where you can also find a form to contact Emily for further information.

 

Updates from David

Totterdown-based playwright and dramaturg, David Lane, circulates a free regular e-newsletter listing UK-wide theatre writing opportunities, covering competitions, workshops, training, bursaries, industry blogs, events and submission requests. Click here to sign up.